Ferrara: Splendor of the Renaissance - March 15, 2026, 3 PM
Piffaro: The Renaissance Band
Follow your ears to Ferrara, the dazzling cultural and intellectual hub of the Italian Renaissance. Under the lavish patronage of the d’Este family, the city bustled with the era’s leading humanists, artists, and especially musicians—including the great master, Josquin Desprez. Piffaro’s wind players will guide you through the city’s extraordinary soundscape, illuminating its vital contribution to Renaissance musical traditions.
Leçons de Ténèbres, François Couperin – March 29, 2026, 4 PM
Basso Celestia
Leah Wenger, soprano
Morayo Akande, soprano
Katerina Kotar, gamba
Cameron Kuzepski, continuo
As we enter the bleakness of Holy Week on Palm Sunday, Basso Celestia offers a chamber ensemble program of François Couperin’s Leçons de Ténèbres (Lessons for Tenebrae), a breathtaking work for two sopranos and continuo. Written for the Wednesday night Tenebrae liturgy of Holy Week, the piece sets the heart wrenching texts of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, pairing ornate melismatic settings of the Hebrew letters with deeply expressive, recitative-like verses. Alongside Christ Church’s Assistant Director of Music/Director of Choristers, Cameron Kuzepski, Basso Celestia offers a performance that highlights the composition’s remarkable elegance, intensity, and spiritual depth.
A freewill offering will be received at this concert.
The Most Favourite Music – May 15, 2026, 7 PM
Tempesta di Mare: Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra
with The Publick Pleasure
Eve S. Miller, curator & cellist
Brian Chang, baritone
Julia Bengtsson, dancer, New York Baroque Dance Company
European-trained musicians, American political elites, theater performers, and denizens of the French colonies all performed shoulder to shoulder in an 18th century Philadelphia that saw a lively and burgeoning music scene after the relaxation of cultural restrictions enforced during the Revolutionary War. From familiar Scottish Airs to dance numbers and chamber music, this recreation of a “City Concert” offers an immersive experience of living history, featuring music from Philadelphia’s stages and ballrooms popular at the time. Part of Soundtrack of Independence, a collaborative celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. This concert will be held in the Chapel.
Concerts in the 2025-2026 Season
- Music Between Monarchy & Republic with Tempesta di Mare's New World Recorders - October 3, 2025
- Tools of the Trade with Piffaro - October 12, 2025
- Handel's Messiah with the Christ Church Choir, International Guest Soloists, and Tempesta di Mare: Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra - December 18-21, 2025
- Messiaen's La Nativité du Seigneur with Michael Messina, organist, and Lucy Winters Durkin, visual artist - January 18, 2026
- Le donne musicali with Tempesta di Mare: Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra - February 27, 2026